The way that America commemorates the 15 year anniversary of 9/11 will shape our nation's future. Will we honor the dead by recommitting our nation to love? Or will we allow 9/11 to be used to incite hate and violence this election season?
As a Sikh mother, the question is a matter of life or death.
Because on every 9/11 anniversary, we see an astounding rise in hate against Muslim and Sikh Americans - profiling, bullying, beatings, and killings.
That's why, for the first time ever, we are releasing our

I'm in Oak Creek today to commemorate the four-year anniversary of a mass shooting on Sikh Americans. On August 5, 2012, a white supremacist opened fire in a Sikh gurdwara in this small town in Wisconsin, spilling blood in a place of prayer and peace. He killed six people and wounded many more. The tragedy too quickly fell out of national memory.
But that's not why I keep coming back.
As a Sikh, all my life I have been taught “chardi kala” – the spirit of optimism and revolutionary

Two years ago today, six people of faith were killed, and many others wounded, in a mass shooting at the Sikh house of worship in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
It was the largest act of violence on a faith community in the US since the bombing of a Birmingham church that took four little girls 51 years ago.
The shooting was a national tragedy, but what happened afterward is the most powerful story of healing and rebuilding I’ve ever witnessed. My husband and I had the chance to capture the community's

By Jessica Testa
Published on BuzzFeed.
Wade Michael Page didn’t speak to his victims before killing them. One year ago Monday, he “just began shooting.”
On Aug. 5, 2012, Page walked into the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun. The 40-year-old Army veteran and skinhead musician killed six worshippers and wounded three others before an Oak Creek police officer shot him down.
It was an act of hate — “domestic terrorism” — carried out on a group of people gathered to pray. As filmmaker and civil-rights advocate Valarie Kaur told BuzzFeed

Published on Salon.
On Wednesday night, Dalbir Singh was closing his store when three masked people approached and opened gunfire. He was shot in the head and died instantly. This crime fits the profile of thousands of failed attempted robberies in the U.S., except that Dalbir Singh is a turbaned Sikh man in Oak Creek, Wis.
Dalbir Singh was murdered just 10 days after a white supremacist massacred six people – five turbaned men and one woman – in the Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek. He was one of

In the last week, I witnessed the pain and terrible grief of these children and their families who lost their mothers and fathers, uncles and aunts in the massacre. But I also witnessed a multifaith movement for justice help the Sikh community find the courage to rise and rebuild in a time of unprecedented national attention. Groundswell supporters, thank you.
When I presented the six volumes of letters on Sunday morning, your words were concrete proof to the Sikh community in Wisconsin that they were not alone. They represented the

Published on Common Ground News Service.
Oak Creek, Wisconsin - On Friday, I participated in a memorial for the victims of the 4 August shooting in a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. I am a third-generation Sikh American, and as the ceremony drew to a close, I tweeted, “May this not be the last moment the nation watches and mourns with us. May this be the start of lasting solidarity.”
Now is the time that we, as Americans already embroiled in an increasingly bitter election year, must curb

Published on The Huffington Post.
By Valarie Kaur and Simran Jeet Singh
Why do we wear turbans?"
Nearly every Sikh American who grows up in the U.S. asks their families this question and as two Sikh Americans who maintain our faith, we were no different when we were little. This week, as Americans join in vigils for the six murdered Sikhs in another violent act of hate, many are now asking us this same question.
"Our ancestors were beheaded so that we could practice our faith without fear," our grandparents told

Appeared on the Melissa Harris-Perry Show.
I'm honored to be featured on one of my favorite shows on TV by the smartest, most compassionate host I know, Melissa Harris-Perry. She discusses my call for efforts to build a world without terror and includes footage my partner Sharat Raju and I shot this week in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

Published on The Washington Post.
By Vineet Chander, Valarie Kaur and Najeeba Syed-Miller
One week after the Sikh shootings in Oak Creek, Americans have learned more about the Sikh community, many for the first time. A brief introduction to Sikhism has caused people to wonder about the relationship between Sikhism, Hinduism and Islam.
Each religion is a distinct tradition with unique sets of beliefs, practices and values, and at the same time, all three have coexisted for many hundreds of years in the South Asian region of the world. India

About Valarie

Valarie Kaur is a seasoned civil rights activist, award-winning filmmaker, lawyer, faith leader, and founder of The Revolutionary Love Project. She harnesses love as a shared practice to fight for social justice. She believes “the way we make change is just as important as the change we make.”

Latest Tweets

RT @dviyer: On #Kashmir: Rep. @RashidaTlaib releases a powerful statement. "I have met with residents in Michigan who cannot even call thei…

RT @RevLoveProject: Thank you @HalloranPJ for partnering with us, and engaging your students on hate violence in the wake of 9/11. We hope…